Business Rates

I do hope that my right hon. Friend will have a look at this, because this is a much more serious problem than the little note that she has just received from the Box makes out. The Pallion engineering company in my constituency is the last surviving shipyard on the Wear, and its rates are going up from £55,000 a year to £234,000. The Treasury will not get that £234,000, however, because that rates bill will put the company out of business, along with the 200 people who work there. I appreciate that my right hon. Friend has not had much time to get to grips with these issues, but I do hope that she will talk to her opposite numbers in the Treasury about the folly of what is happening.